I always thought a beat up old pickup truck with a huge front, steel bumper for ramming the stupid ones off the road was a good solution, but I realize that's not safe or realistic. Dang. :)

spark; you have some very good points and as for the phones my concern is I don’t see any possible way to enforce this. I do agree that something has to be done about the majority of drivers on the road however a large concern of mine is that I do not believe that the bad drivers will be any better if this legislation is passed. I think too many people trust other drivers to follow the rules of the road, I enter the road not trusting any driver to follow the rules of the road, expecting them to all be stupid, and I have never been in an accident and have only gotten one ticket for failure to obey a sign when I was young. Like was said earlier you can’t fix stupid, legislation can’t fix stupid, fines can’t fix stupid. I am all for making it more difficult to get a license but that would be the last thing tried. I just don’t see this as viable.

mespl - You're right about being over the speed limit. There is a cushion factor there. It's also because very few squad cars are equipped with radar. As far as the seatbelts, trust me, if they see people not wearing them, they're going to start pulling them over. As far as the phones, I don't know the answer on how you would prove someone was on it. All's I know is, something needs to change. There are WAY to many people out there driving around on their phones that are a threat to everyone. I counted 10 people on phones in about a 5 minute stretch not long ago.

Spark; Sure you can, but you don’t 99 percent of the time. I can get pulled over for going 4 mph over the speed limit yet I never have so I don’t worry when I go past a cop doing 4 over. You can get pulled over and get a ticket for inattentive driving, but you don’t. Usually you only get one of those after an accident, but you can get pulled over. My point was that even if they pass this law it will be unenforceable. Just more ink on the law books. How exactly would they determine if you were on your phone and enforce the law?

mespl - The seatbelt law has been changed. You now can get pulled over for not wearing it period. That was my point. People didn't follow the more lenient law before so it had to be changed to a more strict version to enforce better. Same should go for this topic.

sorry. not ready. i ment reading the comments on an unforcable law.

this is probably all due to the fact that who ever makes up the laws are being WAY over paid and know it. So to look like they are actually earning their pay they come up with stupid laws. just like i am ready an unforcable law. I'm done on this topic. its a go no where, pointless, tax payer wasting law.

Even with the seatbelt law you only get a ticket if you get pulled over for another infraction. How exactly would they enforce this law? It says that the bill would cover “texting and talking on phones”. What about holding a phone? Can I hold my phone while driving? All phones have a speaker phone option. New cars can come with built in hands free. What about when using On-star in a GM vehicle, that is the same as making a phone call with hands free, press one button and speak. How does the cop know that I am talking on the phone and not to myself or singing with the radio? He could check the phone history if the person doesn’t delete it fast enough and if he can get a judge to sign off on a warrant since police cannot access a person’s phone without their consent or a warrant. I am not trying to be rude but they are trying to pass a law that cannot be enforced. When they have one on the books that can be inattentive driving is largely at the discretion of the officer, that will hold up a lot easier than trying to prove that someone was talking when the officer wasn’t in the same car to hear them talk. I just hate to see all these laws pass that might have good intentions however cannot logically be enforced.

I realize that, but it's just like the seatbelt law. Now it's illegal to not where it period because too many stupid people didn't abide by the not so official rule that was in place before that. The same should go for this.

Spark there is a law, "Wisconsin statutes already permit law enforcement officers to cite for
“inattentive driving”, which would include use of a cell phone, under
s.346.89(1), Wis. Stats., which states that “No person while driving a motor
vehicle shall be so engaged or occupied as to interfere with the safe driving
of such vehicle.”"
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/statepatrol...
Enforce current laws.

Here's an idea...how about if driving responsibility starts with the parents. Teach your kids good driving skills, stay off the phone yourself, look over your shoulder before changing lanes, use a turn signal once in awhile and stop at stop signs. Tell your kids that driving is a privilege, not a right and that you will take the keys away...and mean it. My son gets his learner's permit in 11 months, but his driving lessons started a long time ago. If we see an idiot doing something stupid I point it out to him and ask him what is wrong with what the driver is doing. Will he forget to use a turn signal occasionally? Sure. Will he really hate a song on the radio and decide to change it while trying to change lanes? Probably. But he also understands that with driving comes responsibility and he will be responsible for whoever he has in the car with him as well as all the drivers around him. He knows that if he can't reply to a text right away, it's not the end of the world. And it would be nice if more traffic violations were taken seriously by police. If word gets out thtat speeders will actually get a ticket and inattentive driving will NOT be tolerated, maybe people will start to get the hint. I can always tell when an out of towner is driving through town. They are the ones that stop at stoplights!

neonnate1002 - Police use their cell phones to communicate back with the station or other officers for certain things. Their radios communicate with dispatch. They can't enforce something when theres no laws in place to enforce them. Hense the point of this article.
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I agree the ban should be for everyone, not just youth. Either use a hands free device or pay the fine. Pay attention when you drive. It's a privilege to drive. bennetonf1 said it all. Too many people are too stupid to know any better so unfortunately laws need to be in place. You can't fix stupid.

Good luck getting the police to enforce. i see police driving their squad cars with jaws flapping into there cell phones all the time.

"hey honey how are you? me oh im just trying to catch a speeder doing 90MPH. Yeah, for dinner lets order pizza"

Doesn't the iPhone have an app for driving your car?

By policy, law enforcement should consider texting (in particular) evidence of inattentive driving. No legislation needed. I for one would like to see them pulling over a LOT more people for simply not paying attention, drifting in the lane, etc.

bennetonf1: Actually they can get ticketed for that, the problem is that there is not enough enforcement of the laws.
“According to state law, motorists must have their headlights on during the period beginning 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise. Headlights also must be on whenever a driver cannot see a vehicle or person on the roadway at a distance of 500 feet or less.”
‘"For the best visibility, high beams should be used whenever there are no oncoming vehicles. High beams let you see twice as far as low beams," said State Patrol Superintendent David Collins. "However, you must dim your high beams whenever you approach an oncoming vehicle within 500 feet, which is a distance of about one block. High beams also should be dimmed when you are 500 feet or less behind another vehicle or when traffic is heavy. Low beams should be used when driving in fog, snow or heavy rain because the light from high beams will reflect off the precipitation and cause glare for the driver. Don't drive with only your parking lights on. Parking lights are for parking only."’
http://www.trafficviolationlawfirms.com/...
Again the problem is enforcing the current laws not making more.

We need laws like this because the general poulation is too STUPID to do what common sense dictates.
A good example is last week while driving to work in VERY thick fog, there were drivers that had not turned their lights on. Sure, it's not a law just common sense.

I agree, however we have enough laws on the books. If they are truly distracted then they should get a ticket for inattentive driving, there are enough laws that currently are not being enforced why create another. Also bad drivers are bad drivers weather they have a phone or not. Just last week I was ran off the road by a woman who was merging off of the interstate she failed to obey the yield sign (illegal) and proceeded to drive her car across all lanes of traffic (without her signal on (illegal)) and I had to drive my car into the median to prevent her from driving into the side of me. The week before I had to skid to a stop when I had a green light because a woman turned left on a red arrow (illegal) and ignored the fact that traffic was coming with a green light. Neither was on a phone and merely a coincidence that both were female. My point is that bad drivers will always be bad drivers and no matter what it is up to the rest of us to prevent the accidents, by the way both times I was on my phone hands free I use hands free so that I can shift.

mespl - I'm sorry you feel that way but when people are driving they should be focused on driving. I travel a lot for my job and it is amazing to me the number of people that don't seem to let their driving get in the way of more important things. Unfortunately, it often means they end up drifting into my lane or not paying attention to their speed and either nearly rear ending me out of nowhere or slowing down in front of me. I try to pass and then they speed up all of a sudden. 7 times out of 10 they have a phone glued to their ear and they are totally oblivious to what is going on around them. That's an awfully big chance to take while behind the wheel of something that could potentially injure or kill someone, don't you think?

Next it will be a law against shaving one's head while driving (since that caused an accident elsewhere). My point is: We have laws against distracted drivers -- use those. We don't need to keep adding one more law after another. Our state needs a part-time unicameral legislature.

This is pathetic; I am so sick of the government telling us what we can and can’t do. Just let us live our lives. The majority of the bad drivers talking on their cell phones will still be bad drivers without their phones. I agree texting while driving is a bad idea, but come on a hands free device? You can get those so that you don’t have to do anything but tell it to call the person and then it starts ringing, that is not as bad as changing the radio station but I don’t see them trying to ban radios, yet. There are enough laws on the books, stop trying to find new laws to make, instead make a way for the ones on the books to be enforced.

I find myself being a lot less aware when on the phone without my hands free device. I try to remember to use it as much as possible and that, for me, makes a world of difference. Absolutely no texting though. Can't do it and feel anywhere near comfortable driving.

It should be for every one

Why only new drivers. i dont know about you but i see alot of middle aged people talking on there phone, holding up traffic, not paying attention, and generaly being stupid. not to point fingers but most of them female. those people bring out the road rage in others. get off your damn phone and drive. just my 2cents.